Why is Sabina Nessa murder not all over the media?

[postingfortraffichere]

Such a tragic killing and sad, truly awful to hear about this murder.

Though I can't understand why, it doesn't get the same media/public attention as Sarah Everard who died in similarly tragic circumstances not long ago.

Both are equally tragic, two young women attacked in similar circumstances - the only difference I can see in these cases is the colour of their skin. Sarah's murder was everywhere - before we knew it was a police officer responsible.

Women had lined the streets in protest to make the country a safer place for women.

I can't help but notice where are these women protesting for Sabina? Or for the Killmarsh murders, or other women of colour?

The media treats women of colour - even to this day - very differently to white women.

It feels like the media are sending a clear message that black lives STILL 'don't matter' quite as much as their white counterparts.

[Plumtree391]

I've seen quite a bit about her and the case was on the news tonight (I mean last night, Wednesday).

[Plumtree391]

I think the fact that Sarah Everard was murdered by a police officer is what caused the large media coverage.

"Your post is a disgrace and an insult to Sarah Everard. And so is the whole thread. I am hiding this repugnant thread now. I am sure it won't last long. The OP @postingfortraffichere knows it's a stinker, and that is why she has posted it at almost midnight when there is little moderation."

Why is it a disgrace, an insult and repugnant? The op is entitled to express how she feels and what she has said is not unreasonable.

[Gimlisaxe]

I wondered whether the police for some reason where trying to keep it quiet. Not sure if it works like that, but it was on Crimewatch a couple of days ago, and rather than this is what we know, this is the last time she was spotted, it was literally if you were in the park at such a time, please contact the police if you know anything. Not exactly that but hopefully you get my drift.

[MumsTheWordFact]

When I started reading this I knew you were going to ignore the obvious reason about the murderer being a police officer and go straight to blaming it on racism. You didn't disappoint did you?

[GatoradeMeBitch]

It's probably too late at night to try and formulate this thought so I apologize if it comes across badly, not my intention, but in most cases the murderer is usually the same race as the victim, and I wonder if the media want to be careful to not add to negative/hateful stereotypes.

White men are really the only demographic in existence who can run around murdering and whatever else and it only reflects on them personally. In literally every other group the person will be held up as making everyone in their demographic look bad, and "see, this is why they can't be trusted/shouldn't have rights", so it becomes a more loaded issue.

Sorry if that sounded bollocks. But I agree that women of colour need as much representation in the media as white women, and as much assistance.

[UsedUpUsername]

@GammyLeg

You are right, OP. I remember on MN the boards were flooded with posts about Sarah. And rightly so - every time a woman is murdered by a man, we should be in uproar.

But BAME women are not afforded the same outcry.

This is ridiculous. Sarah did not get a lot of coverage as a missing person case, it was persistence by her loved ones that saw the case being bigger in the press. If you go missing, you better hope you have friends and family that can go to the press and not be easily discouraged if it doesn’t get immediately picked up.

Sabina’s case got huge attention the moment her body was found.

The reason BOTH cases eventually got huge attention was that they were murdered by a stranger.

If they were murdered by a partner, no one would care and we’d never hear about them.

Awful but true.

[Colouringaddict]

I live less than a minute away from the crime scene. I don’t understand how she could have lain there for as long as is commented. It is a space that is always in use, youngsters on skateboards, footballers using the pitch. It’s a very busy road too.

My heart breaks for her poor family.

[GreenUp]

If I recall rightly, there was a mass twitter storm and collective fury over police telling women in the area of Everad's murder to stay indoors. The police advice led to there being calls for a "curfew for men" and then lots of debate around whether men should be the ones to stay in. I think the police advice in some part galvanised the angry response from women who showed up to the vigil..

Also the longer time frame between Sarah going missing and being found and all the CCTV footage being shown on the news.

There's no doubt that there is a "missing white woman" factor going on as well but it seems more complicated i.e. the white female who gets big media attention is often blonde and middle class like Everard or Madeleine McCann.

[GoIntoTheLight]

@UsedUpUsername it's not "ridiculous" at all - it's a well-known phenomenon called missing white women syndrome.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_white_woman_syndrome

[elkiedee]

I agree that some cases get far more coverage of a different type than others.

The police's shortcomings in investigating the horrible murders of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, two black sisters killed after celebrating a birthday with a picnic in the park, finally got more coverage this year, presumably thanks to the efforts of their brave mother, but that took some time too.

[TheFairPrincess]

I don't know why people are pearl clutching so hard right now, is it guilt/defensiveness?

This is an absolutely well known social phenomenon with decades of evidence behind it.

I am a white woman, there are lots of connotations to that which I am aware of. People seem to be personally offended by this OP which is very strange. You are not the victim here. Literal murder victims are.

[Suzi888]

I knew nothing about it, still can’t see anything unless I go looking.

[Orangejuicemarathoner]

most murders are not reported. If they were, then there would be no room in the news for anything else. This terrible murder has had a surprising amount of coverage for a crime where someone has already been arrested and charged.

But the vast majority of murders are never never mentioned in the media at all, and most victims are men

[Balonzette]

It's literally all over the news.

[MsHedgehog]

@Orangejuicemarathoner

most murders are not reported. If they were, then there would be no room in the news for anything else. This terrible murder has had a surprising amount of coverage for a crime where someone has already been arrested and charged.

But the vast majority of murders are never never mentioned in the media at all, and most victims are men

This is plainly wrong. No one has been arrested and charged. They haven’t even found the culprit.

[feesh]

I’m not in the U.K., but I have BBC news 24 on a lot, and it’s been a running story since the weekend. An update is appearing on the news ticker this morning, although they haven’t discussed it in the studio yet.

[MsHedgehog]

@Balonzette

It's literally all over the news.

Now it is. It wasn’t at first and even when it was creeping into the news, it wasn’t that big a story.

[nyktipolos]

As a mixed race woman, it is known that white women as victims of crime get more coverage.

But I still think op is being disingenuous. There are other things to be taken into account. They are not 2 exact cases.

Such as Sarah's story was pushed in the press as she was missing. It was pushed by the police in the hope to find her. They were certain she had not gone missing of her own accord and were trying to find her in the hope she was still alive. In this case there wasn't chance to push it as she wasn't ever missing.

Also the fact that Sarah's killer was a serving police officer made it much bigger news.

I saw on TV yesterday there is infact a vigil/protest being organised. Just because one hasn't happened immediately doesn't mean its not happening. Sarah's case was big news because the police had to police the protestors while one of their own was responsible. The protest made news, in part, because of covid and the rules around gatherings.

People seem to ignore one fairly massive point which is really hypocritical. That had both these murders happened outside London, there would be barely any fuss at all. Sarah's case would probably have gone on to become a bigger news story, once the person arrested turned out to be a policeman.

But had he just been a shopkeeper or traffic warden etc, neither would have got big news.

Women go missing and are murdered all the time. Most don't make the news. Especially, outside London.

Eileen Barrot wasn't a big news story. Even though they didn't have the killer in custody.

The 5 women all murdered in South Yorkshire between March and June 2020, didn't make much of a news story either. All white women.

Op is also ignoring status. Had Sarah not been a 'professional' and Sabina not been a primary teacher, I think there would have been even less interest. Had they have been a sex workers or a cleaner, the papers and news channels and society in general would have cares less too.

I do think race plays a part. But there's tons of other factors that the OP is ignoring and placing it all on race. Which I find frustrating because its muddying the waters when tackling race issues.

The focus here, should be on finally doing something about male violence. Not on how much air time 2 different murders in different situations, get.

[FreeBritnee]

First story in the Mail

[Balonzette]

Top story Daily Mail, and headline in the Sun, it's pretty low down on the BBC website but they have more intl news, and it's also a main story on the Mirror. I don't live in the UK so can't think of any other papers to check.

My social media is literally flooded with the story.

It's mentioned juat as much as the Sarah Everard case (and more so on my social media).

And of course, like posters said, the cases are not the same.

Sarah Everard was missing under mysterious and worrying circumstances for a long time. Hence appeal to find her. And then it turned out she was murdered by a POLICEMAN! That's a huge and terrifying story - a policeman (who carried a weapon as part of his job).

I don't see why a tragedy affecting another woman needs to be made into an argument about race when the cases seem to be moreorless reported exactly the same.

And there are women killed all the time, of every ethnicity, whose deaths go entirely unreported. It seems the media is only interested in the ones when the murderer didn't know the victim.

[Briony123]

Sadly, a main reason for Sarah Everard's murder being huge news was that we were in lockdown, a lot of people needing an outlet for their anger (also with spare time). People are almost back to normal now, and the nation can't stop and protest every time someone is murdered.

[Charley50]

@nyktipolos and @Balonzette - exactly!
I do actually find it really offensive that the horrific murders of Nicole Henry, Bibaa Smallman, Sarah Everard and now Sabina Nessa are being played off against each other, in a strange kind of Top Trumps, when the actual issue is male violence. Sarah Everard was kidnapped and brutally sexually assaulted, for days maybe, before being murdered, and yet there is this strange focus on her being white and somehow lucky and privileged. She is dead, they are all dead.

It's well known the police are generally shit for all women. Look at the rape conviction stats. Look at the response to domestic violence. Research the Yorkshire Ripper in the 70s and 80s. The police allowed him to kill dozens of working class white women and didn't care because they worked as prostitutes, before stepping up when a 'better class' of woman for murdered. Look at the hundreds of white girls all over northern England raped and trafficked and stalked for years, police couldn't give a shit.

Yes we all know the media love a pretty face. We know there is racism. We also know there is classism too. We also know there is misogyny. Do we have to play brutally murdered women off against each other all the time? I find it quite sick.

[adrianmolesmole]

I agree with you Op.

The mainstream media are only just now starting to push Sabina's story mainly because of pressure from twitter and SM. they weren't doing it before.

Those posters trying to justify the difference in coverage between sarah snd sabina was because sarah went missing first are totally (wilfully?) missing the point. Many, many women of colour also go missing every day yet they don't get the same attention. At all.

[Simonjt]

Typical missing white woman syndrome, people claiming Sarahs awful murder was in the news more as she was killed by an officer, care to explain why coverage was so heavy before anyone knew it was an officer?

Blessing Olusegun is a classic case, police action wasn’t taken until her family complained.

[AtlasPine]

Why are some people so defensive about the pointing out of institutional racism? It won’t change until we call it.